Wow, what a fair! A Fair for the record books, and even with all those people, it didn’t feel crowded with the new arrangement of booths. In the Common Kitchen, we served about 3,500 wholesome, nutritious meals to all our hardworking, dedicated, tired volunteers during setup, breakdown and the Fair.

This year we had even more great food than ever, thanks to an increasing number of generous, certified growers and the untiring efforts of Patti Hamilton in finding new donors. We even grew food for the kitchen right in the gardens on the fairground this year, including a blue-ribbon-winning cauliflower head that weighed 12 pounds. Patti also cooks the delicious meals served to setup volunteers.

Our mentor and traditional Friday cook took this year off to have another baby: Kim Bolshaw had a sweet little baby boy named Merrill and decided to devote this year’s Fair to her family instead of the rigors of cooking. Great work, Kim, but you have to work twice as hard next year. Madeline, Barbara and Patti took over the rest of the cooking with a few new interns to help fill in for Kim, and all had a good time.

I mostly goofed off and worked only 20 hours a day instead of my usual 25 due to my advanced years. The kitchen ran pretty smoothly thanks to the innovation added last year – our beautiful walk-in cooler (Thanks, Vern!), and we look forward to perfecting our operation even more next year, since it looks like we'll be serving even more volunteers.

Thanks to everyone who makes the kitchen possible, including our generous donors (below). If you would like to become a donor and win fame and fortune and have your name seen by 60,000+ fairgoers and be listed here next year, call the office at 568-4142 or me at 225-3915 and we'll be happy to accept your donation. See you next year!

– Bill Whitman

2007 Common Kitchen Donors

To anyone inadvertently missed: sincere apologies and deepest thanks. Let me know and we will acknowledge you in a later MOF&G. Remember, to join this stellar list, just call the office at 568-4142 or Bill Whitman at 225-3915.

We had a great 2007 Fair! The intern program was a success: Vince Dufort, this year’s intern, shared considerable time and his great enthusiasm for cooking; we hope to see him again next year. Special mention goes to Jack Kertesz for whipping up 150 chapattis on Saturday night when we ran out of bread for dinner; and to Sidney Mitchell for washing dishes until 10 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. Thanks also to Lori Pinette for her work on Sunday lunch and dinner. She whipped up some fabulous dishes, especially the rabbit shepherd’s pie with biscuit topping.

Here’s a quick soup to keep readers thinking of the Common Kitchen until next September.

Red Lentil Curried Soup

1 onion, minced and sautéed with a bay leaf

Add 2 c. rinsed red lentils.

Add 1 quart water, bring to boil.

Add 1 to 2 Tbsp. curry powder.

Simmer until done (45 min. to 1 1/2 hours, when water is reduced to create a smooth consistency).